As They Fell
by Daethule
Summary: A short story telling of Gandalf's fall with the Balrog. The twist? Every sentence begins with the next letter of the alphabet. If for nothing else, read it for that.


I totally forgot I had written this until just now when I found it. Hah, this is great!

An A-Z story, fulfilling all of your daily alphabetical story needs. Written in response to a contest on Worth 100 (or is it 1000?), though never published there, as they did not accept non-original stories (original meaning not of the LOTR genre.) I hereby challenge everyone who reads this to try their own hand at it. It's rather fun, really.

As They Fell

Away they fell. Blackness swallowed the two foes as the light above quickly became smaller. Cries from his companions echoed down to him, but were soon lost. Down, down, down, they continued to fall, the overwhelming sensation alone nearly claiming the Wizard's senses. Even so, he knew that if he were now to give sway to the darkness, the fight would be over and his foe would have won. Fight, yes, his foe.

Gandalf flipped over so he was now falling face first, and grabbed his sword Glamdring as he caught up with it, followed by his foe the Balrog. Holding on to the Balrog and his sword while falling uncontrollably proved to be a difficult task, but he could not now give up.

It seemed an eternity, though it could have been hours or merely minutes, that the pair struggled wildly with each other, Gandalf hacking where he could and the Balrog blindly striking out at him. Just as the Wizard began to believe he could not continue this for much longer, the narrow gorge they were falling through opened out into a vast chasm, filled at the bottom with an immense underground lake. Keeping his senses proved impossible as Gandalf hit the water with striking force, and for a while, he knew no more.

Listlessly, he floated on the surface of the freezing cold water, the darkness surrounding him completely without the fiery light of his foe. Mind seemed separate from body until it snapped back into place at a great rushing of water that sent him scrambling to stay afloat.

Nearby, the Balrog roared up angrily to the surface, great clouds of steam gathering all around him. Obviously it did not appreciate being plunged into the icy waters deep below the surface of the earth, and immediately began to splash and trudge its way through the still-steaming water.

Plunging after it, Gandalf realized that his only chance of escape from this place was with his enemy. Quenched as the Balrog's fire was, however, the Wizard had no choice but to grasp onto the very heel of his foe to avoid being lost or left behind in the darkness.

Round and round the two went as they reached what was apparently a winding staircase of stone, rapidly ascending up through the mountain, though to Gandalf being dragged along behind, it seemed an eternity out of mind.

Suddenly a grey light appeared in the otherwise pitch-blackness, and it was toward this that the Balrog continued. Thrusting open a wider exit, the Balrog forced his way outside to be greeted by blinding snow and winds. Until then, Gandalf had not fully realized that they had climbed all the way to the top of the mountain, although that was yet the least of his problems.

Violently, the Balrog shook Gandalf off of himself, throwing the Wizard some distance away before advancing on him again. Wincing, Gandalf became aware that he still clutched his faithful sword, and the two began to battle again, fighting bitterly until at last with one final stroke the Balrog fell dead onto the mountainside.

Years flashed before the fading Wizard's eyes, though every day seemed an eternity as he fell to the ground and lay there unmoving.

Zirak-zigil continued to rage about him, wrapping its charge in blankets of white ice and wind until he could rise again.

The End.

Whoops, just realized I skipped 'X'. Heh. My bad. But really…I don't think they had Xylophones in Middle-earth, especially not on the peak of Zirak-zigil. Any good 'X' words out there? Pleeease tell me. I would love to add them to my vocabulary, as I cannot seem to think of any at the moment.

Oh yeah, don't forget to tell me what you thought. Of course it could have been much better developed, and perhaps I shall do another like it, but really I was rather restricted by the alphabet, as you may guess. Try it yourself!! (:


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